


AmberHeart

by Phoenix3011



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, Gen, High School, Hogwarts, Hurt/Comfort, Origin Story, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-14
Updated: 2018-07-08
Packaged: 2019-03-18 07:47:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 9,044
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13677366
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Phoenix3011/pseuds/Phoenix3011
Summary: Tom Riddle has never considered her anything but loud and obnoxious, unworthy of second thought. But right now, the more he observed her, the more curious he grew. There was definitely more to this girl that met the eye.





	1. Loud and obnoxious

Riddle is in his 4th year in Hogwarts. In last 3 years, he had worked hard to build his image. and all those hard work seems to be bringing their result. He was model student, apple of teachers eyes (apart from Dumbledore, who obviously had unusual choices; even in choosing favorite students) and dashingly handsome. He already also formed a close tight group of loyal “friends”, who were ready to anything, anything for him. The group has a dark glamour in the castle, with Riddle as their supreme leader. All the guys wanted to be him, all the girls wanted to be with him. All in all, Riddle’s life is going exactly as he planned. Content with state of affairs, he set his goal for an ultimate glory as heir of Salazar slytherin, finding the chambers of secrets. Most of his nighttime strolling around the castle was aimed at that single mission. On such a night, Riddle found himself outside the girls bathroom in the 3rd floor. Based on all the information he has gathered, there was a very strong possibility that it could hold the opening of the chamber of secrets. Feeling a sting of pride in his own brilliance, Riddle pushed into the bathroom. Although it was a girls bathroom, he did not bother checking the stalls, it was half an hour later then the curfew time and nobody should be there. Riddle slowly made his way to the basins to examine the place further. But as he was walking by the last stall, he heard very peculiar sounds coming from it. The sounds were nothing like anything that he has ever heard in the Hogwarts castle. It was not any human or animal. The sounds were,.. mechanical in quality. Tom Riddle took out his wand out of his sleeves. Whatever that was in that stall, it needed to be examined before he could move forward. He pushed the stall door, it was closed. After a swift thinking he shouted Alohomora! The door swing open. But inside was nothing that Riddle has ever expected.

Ahhhhhhhhhh!!

Inside the stall was a fully dressed Lubna Amberglam, a girl from riddles class, sitting with a Gameboy in her hands. Her eyes and mouth were wide open with alarm.  
Riddle looked at the Gameboy in her hands, it was making sounds he just heard, they were coming from the game she has been playing.

“Jesus Riddle! You startled me!” she said.

Tom said nothing but continued to observe her as she stood up and straitened her clothes. She has been playing an electronic device inside Hogwarts. Hogwarts! where all muggle electronic devices are supposed to go haywire! But how?

“ What are you doing here at this time ?’ he asked her.

Lubna checked her hand watch an gave an expression of surprise. “Its that time already? Sorry..” she said to no one in particular. Then she addressed Riddle, “I lost track of time. But what are you doing? Especially in a girls bathroom?” she asked with a frown.

Riddle had not expected a fellow student when he attempted to open the stall door, thus had not considered his position in such an incident. Nevertheless, lying came easy to him.

”I heard the noise from your Gameboy”  
Lubna looked at her Gameboy like she had forgotten that it existed. ‘oh!..”she said, turning off the device.  
“but why were you outside after curfew?” her tone was casual.

Riddle scowled slightly. This girl was the one caught doing an illegal activity, but instead of being afraid that he might report her to the teachers, she was questioning him bluntly. “I had to see a teacher”

Riddle being a top student in his class there was no way she could argue with a that. And as Riddle had predicted, she did not ask which teacher, rather got out stall and started walking towards the bathroom door. 

“Well lets better get to common room before any teacher catch us” she said without a second look at Riddle.

Riddle was caught by surprise by his fellow classmate’s nonchalant behavior. Tom Riddle was always used to getting a attention from everyone he knew. People usually looked at him with mixture of respect and fear; and Girls, weren’t they always looking at him longing and greedy desire? Yet this girl showed none of these emotions. It surprised him to no end.

Before he came back to reality, she had already left the Bathroom, she was almost sprinting in an attempt to reach common room quickly. Tom caught up to her and asked her the question he was dying to ask.

“How did you manage to use Gameboy inside Hogwarts?”

She answered without looking at him.“O I used a spell, I know we are not supposed to, but I could not wait till summer break to play Cooking Mania 2 you see, so I ..” she did not finish, apparently lost in thoughts.

Riddle glared her with disbelieve from the corner of his eyes, Cooking Mania 2? What was she?? A Muggle?? Who played those games anyway? He was right, she was annoying.

“.. it does not work all the time you know, that why I got so excited and lost track of time.” She finished her sentence.

Riddle rolled his eyes, but he was very interested in knowing how such a mediocre girl had found of using magic that he, the heir of slytherin does not know. Of course he had no desire of playing Cooking Mania 2, but such magic had its other, more powerful uses. 

“ where did you find the spell” Riddle said in such a tone that would suggest that they were close friends, and she had found an impressive information for homework essay. Riddle knew how to charm people.

She turned and looked at him, Riddle was looking at her with a pleasant smile and mild interest.  
“ ..in a library book about Hogwarts I think, I don’t remember the title...” she said with a smile.  
“Oh I see”  
Riddle could tell that she was lying. There are no books in the Hogwarts library that told you directly a spell to interfere with its defense mechanism. He had done more research on the issue than anyone , he knew all the books about Hogwarts that was in library.

They had reached the slytherin dormitory.  
“Parceltongue” she said the password. They entered the common room together. The room was full of people doing their homework, or just casually chatting with one another. Riddle saw his group waiting for him at their usual seats near the fire. 

“Well Goodnight Riddle! Thanks for not ratting me out” Lubna said to him with a smile and then went to join her friends without waiting for his answer. She was greeted with welcome and started talking animatedly almost immediately.  
“Loud and obnoxious indeed” Riddle thought to himself as he joined his group. “But what else are you hiding my dear Lubna?”


	2. The forever happy girl

From the next day Riddle started to observe Lubna more closely, as knowing her inside out was important to manipulate her. At the 1st took, she seems to have no particular attributes to consider. She was the most unusual slytherin. Her last name and light chestnut skin tone suggested that she was biracial. She was average looking and poorly groomed compared to other girls in the class. She was a goofball, surrounded by always a lot of people and noise; making unnecessary comments and being bluntly honest, even with teachers. Most people thought she was funny, her easy going demeanor meant she has a lot of friends, even in other houses.No wonder, she was Dumbledore's favorite students in the class. Moreover, for a slytherin she also seems to have too much interest in all things muggle. Riddle once spotted her reading muggle comic books in history class. Riddle thought that the sorting hat had made a mistake, she obviously belonged to hupplepuff; and other slytherins agreed. But in general she was nice and even slytherins; with all their pride and prejudice, needed nice people to get through teenage years.

But as Riddle took a closer look at her, he encountered a number of inconsistencies in her image. 1st of all, she was never seen in slytherin table at meal times. Tom had previously considered her absence as freedom from unnecessary noise pollution, but now that he was following her, it seemed curious. She was never seen doing her homework, all the time she spent in common room was in chatting or reading books that were by no means even close to anything taught in the school, yet she never missed homework.While most girls in Hogwarts had permanent friend groups, she was never seen with the same persons for more than 2 weeks, she kept changing where she sits in the class, and her partners are various. She never volunteered to speak in the class (except maybe for transfiguration), but tom noticed that she was almost always some of the 1st to achieve any new spell, but only showed it to teacher when being told off for talking in the class. On the other hand, he overheard debating passionately with Revanclaw 4th year Diggory on goblin war, but he was sure that he saw her sleeping during whole class. She was mysterious indeed.

One afternoon in the common room he saw her sitting with the other slytherin girls. They were trying to do a particularly hard spell, set by the DADA teacher. When Lubna tried to help them, one of the other girls said, “Lubna I don’t think you can do it, it very hard!” Lubna said “oh ok, you try then!” but Riddle say her smirk slightly when she lent backwards in her chair, allowing other girls try it. He was sure that she knew how to do the spell correctly; she was just enjoying the view as her partners try and fail miserably. How Interesting!

To verify his assumption that she was hiding some sort brilliance he decided to bait her. Her favorite subject was astronomy. So Riddle and his group decided to debate on effects of solar system on magic, Riddle intently misstated information on rotation of Jupiter’s moon; information that was only found in the 5th years books. Riddles plan worked. She could not help but correcting him. She obviously was studying more magic than she let on. And after observing Lubna for a month and half, Riddle decided that it was time to act.

Riddle used a variety of techniques in recruitments of his friends. Some had willingly come to follow his lead, for others he used charm, blackmail or direct threat. Although Lubna had a lot of friends, no guy seems to be romantically interested in her. Poor her! What would the poor girl do if suddenly the most handsome guy in the class started falling for her, shows her that he is “interested”.It has been a long time since he had charmed a girl for information; he was going to enjoy it. Riddle smirked at the thought of having her cornered, he imagined how she will melt, it will be most interesting to see some other emotions in her forever happy face. 

The next day after herbology class he called lubna from behind, “hey Amberglam! I want a word”

She told her friends to leave and waited for him, Riddle saw her friends eyeing them with curiosity. He smirked and turned his charm on her “you are looking lovely today!”

But instead of blushing for being complimented by the handsome Tom Riddle; Lubna raised her eyebrows and said “okey, if you say so.”

Riddle looked at her and spotted his mistake, her hands still bore some dirt, and they both smelled. Aftermath of the herbology class was the time everyone looked their worst, it was NOT an ideal time compliment someone, and she was no fool. But Riddle saved himself instantly, “ I meant your hair, It looks nice”, he said quickly. Her usually messy ponytail hair was pulled back with a black round band today. Riddle assumed it was to stop them from falling in her face when she worked in herbology. It did not add to her beauty whatsoever, but she seemed to believe him. “Thank you” she smiled. “ What did you need Riddle?”

Riddle said, “ Can I tell you secret lubna?” his voice tuned to sound like he was really afraid.  
“a…okeyy”  
“its kinda embarrassing really,.. But I really need help and it would harm my image , I did not know whom to turn to. You are always helping everyone and you are so nice, so I thought you maybe able to help me”  
“okeyyyy…, tell me, what can I do for you?”  
Riddle looked like he was about to tell her most embarrassing thing about him.  
“ I am actually difficulty in understanding some of the things Dumbledore said in last class, could you help me with my homework.”  
Lubna looked surprised.  
“ .. you can see how it is going to look if I told anyone that I could not understand simple transfiguration, what everyone will think of me, me being the top student and all” he ended simply, keeping his tone humble.  
Lubna considered it for a moment, and then said, “ Sure why not! Come around library reading room around ..umm ..yeah 7.30 am, I will help you.” She started to put her herbology book into her bag, she was getting ready to get a move on.

Riddle admired her nerve, she didn’t even ask him about the time, she just assumed he will agree to whatever time she liked.  
“7.30 pm you mean, right?” he said.  
“ O NO No, 7.30 am, that will give plenty of time to finish it before morning classes . And no one’s there in the morning, so you won’t have to worry about anyone knowing.” she told him with a smile and started walking.

Riddle was staring at her retreating back. He was extremely annoyed by this arrogant girl. He was going to make her pay for it. On the other hand, the empty reading room was exactly what he needed. He will see how she fared I when they are alone.  
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………..  
The next morning Riddle woke up to hear the morning birds singing. It was an unusual thing. Slytherin dormitory was in the dungeons, under the lake they hardly got any sound from outside. But with everyone sleeping, it was so quite that the distant sounds reached it. Tom looked around to see his fellow roommates sleeping soundly, part of him wanted to join them again. He was not a morning person at all. It was bothersome, but he had to pursue that bratty girl! He got out of the bed and started dressing. Soft light from the surface of the lake was coming into his dormitory through windows. Riddle was never one to be wasting time in admiring nature, but even he had to notice how beautiful the light emerald colored water looked. He straightened his tie, took his bag and took off.

As he climbed up to the entrance hall he looked at clock, 6.45. He was early, but that was fine, he planned on surprising her by arriving 1st. but as he entered the reading room, he saw that she was already there. She was sitting a table on the side of the window and had several books spread before her, apparently she was here for a quite a while. Her head was buried in a book, but she was eating something with one hand. Tom wondered how scandalized Ms. Brooks (the librarian) will be if she found out that someone brought food in the library.

He coughed with dignity to get her attention, and then said “Good Morning”

Looking up she gave him a dazzling smile and said “Good morning Riddle, you are early! Sit down here” then proceeded to pull the chair next to her. Tom sat on the chair and asked her “you brought food to library?”  
She looked slightly embarrassed, “I have been studying since 5.30 and I always feel very hungry when I study, so I usually eat breakfast here, but I am very careful not to hurt the books”

5.30 am? That would explain the mystery of homework. Tom also noticed that she used “hurt”, as if books are living people.  
He said, “I did not know that they serve breakfast this early”  
“Well they don’t, but house elfs in the kitchen always have food ready and I just get it from the kitchens whenever I am hungry”  
So that explained her missing meals.  
“Do you want some sandwich?” she asked.  
“No” Tom replied quietly. He saw that she was looking outside, her face suggested that she liked the colour of morning sky very much. She was clearly a morning person. She turned to him and said, “so what did you not understand?”  
Tom had a prepared an answer beforehand, he said, “I don’t get the theory of anigami Lubna” he used her 1st name in purpose and had spoken her name very sweetly. “How are we supposed to change the complex human mind to that of a simple animal?” He finished.

Lubna had either not noticed the use of her first name, or thought it was completely for Tom to be calling her with such tenderness. She started to answer Tom’s question, “well you have got it all wrong Riddle, the mind is not supposed to change at all you see. Only the body has to be transformed. What I think you are referring to is“thoughts” I think. The our thoughts has to be less complex before we can transform into animals, let me see..” she raked in the transfiguration book “ yes , here it say so…….”

She continued to explain the animagi transformation, and Tom was barely listening to what she said, of course he had no problem understanding the theory, he was even considering trying the practical process himself. Instead, he was staring at her with soft desire in his eyes, mixed with a tiny bit of lust. This was a look he so often saw reflected in his female classmates when they looked at him; although none of them had the careful composure that he exercised. Some even looked at him absolute naked hunger. His aim was to make her uneasy. After that was achieved, he would start complimenting her with playful smirk; making her blush. The final stage would involve getting extremely close to her face and touching her gently, at which point she would melt like so many others have girls he had charmed. Once she was under his spell, he could use her anyway he wanted.

But charming Lubna was turning into too much of a problem. Her thick brain did not seem to register that Tom’s playful stare. After what seemed like an eternity of full on explanation anigami, she finally noticed that something was different.

“It is a complex process that needed certain preparations….” She stopped mid-sentence and asked “Do you want to say something Riddle?” Her expression remained unchanged.This was not the reaction Tom had expected, but he kept his composure. He smirked playfully and said “no, you are very good at this Lubna, do you fancy teaching career?”

With much enthusiasm she said, “Actually I do” she was grinning. She looked outside, lost in her thoughts and said, “but then, I fancy many other professions as well…” then suddenly she jerked head, her face flinched in distaste, as if she remembered something she would rather forget. She shook her head, rubbed her eyes and looked into the book again. Tom could not help but smile slightly; her actions were too comical.

“Look here in the Tom, the book says that..” she was pointing somewhere in the book.

Riddle was glad to have the opportunity to lean in, he placed his face tactfully so that when she raised her face from the book, their eyes will meet and their faces will be literally 2inch from each other. But what happened next was something that was beyond Tom’s wildest imaginations.

She raised her head and found herself looking into Tom’s handsome brown eyes. Tom saw her eyes wide slightly in surprise, then cringe, as if in dislike. Then, without warning, she slowly put two of her fingers on his forehead and pushed him back. 

“You are too close Riddle” she said simply with a smile and started looking to the book again. The smile did not reach her eyes, It couldn’t be clearer to Tom that she was annoyed. But if she was annoyed then it compared nothing to what Tom felt. How dare!! How dare she? How dare she pushed him back? How dare she humiliate him! Tom could feel rage filling each inch of his being. He had never, never faced such insolence. His hand quickly moved to his wand, he was deciding which curse to use on her when he heard sound behind them. 

Dumbledore was entering the library, “Good morning Ms Amberglam, Mr Riddle”. Lubna beamed happily at him greeted back “Good Morning Professor”. Tom’s greeting was rather mechanical.  
“Getting home works ready?”  
“yes sir”  
“ok, I will let you carry on then.” Dumbledore said with a smile and proceeded towards the bookshelves himself. Tom had a feeling that he was here for quite a while; observing them, and only made himself visible when he understood what Tom was about to do. Tom regretted his loss of temper, last thing he wanted was a teacher seeing his dark side. He said quick goodbye to Lubna and left, but the incident was vividly clear in his head. He will make this girl pay. He will wipe that stupid grin from her face and fill it with agony. He was going torture her until she was on her knees and begging for mercy. He will make sure of that.


	3. Under surveillance

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for the short chapters, I will work harder and try to update regularly

Since their homework session, Tom did not speak to Lubna, who was also acting as if nothing has happened. Tom had not forgotten his plan of torturing her, but those plans were put on hold in order to focus on the upcoming finals. Moreover, Dumbledore seem to be keeping a close eye on both them. Tom knew he would be expelled if he laid one finger on her.   
But as soon as the exams are over Tom found himself thinking constantly about that morning. Why does the girl treat him so ordinarily? Why was she so brave? Was it simple foolishness? Was she really too thick to realise who she was dealing with. Surely how she reacted to his advances suggest so. The girl couldn’t recognize flirting even if it was dancing in front of her naked. Though Tom wouldn’t admit it, her aloofness towards him bothered him more than her fearlessness. Tom never really went after any girl, he never felt the need of anyone’s company. That being said, even in the muggle orphanage, he always got attention of any girl he wanted. But she was different, immune to his appeal. Why so?  
Tom was sitting at the school grounds, pretending to enjoy the beautiful afternoon with some of his “friends”. Lubna was also close by play Fanged Frisbee with some hupplepuffs boys. Rosier who was sitting Tom’s side was watching them closely. “Riddle, May I ask you a question?” he said politely.   
Tom did not raise his eyes from the book he was reading , but said, “ what?’’ being polite was a musk he wore in front of teachers, he didn’t need it in his inner circle.  
Rosier tried to calculate Tom’s mode, as if trying to measure whether it will be ok for him to ask the question. He concluded Tom was in a good mode and asked, “Why are you interested in Amberglam?”  
Tom looked at Rosier with a jolt. He had not confided with anyone about his plans with Lubna. Even though he had group of loyal people at his service, he always liked to act alone, only using pawns where necessary. How did Rosier know?  
“ Why would you say that?” Tom asked Rosier.  
Rosier was taken aback by the look of anger at tom’s face. He realized he had tickled the dragon. But he also knew he would suffer even more if he did not answer.  
“ Well Nott overheard some girls gossiping about you talking to her and lately…” Rosier took a breath before finishing his line. “You are always staring at her”  
Tom was surprised, was he really staring at her this much? He had been so busy with finding her secrets that he forgot that a he was under watch too. It was a mistake, but if they knew about her; it would also mean that they knew something about that girl too. Tom decided to use it to his advantage. He changed his expression as though he was not angry at all, rather amused. Then he asked,  
“Tell me Rosier, is she worthy of my attention?” as if he was simply asking his opinion.  
Rosier’s face cleared at once. It really took very little to deceive these fools, Tom thought to himself. He said, “ Well she is hardly a remarkable girl Riddle. She lacks proper wizarding attitude. And and..” Rosier faltered “.. I think, I think she might like girls, Riddle. The way she looks at astronomy witch, I think she gives herself away.”  
Tom raised his eyebrows. Rosier clearly thought he was interested in her romantically. But his observation was useful. Tom had not thought about it that way. He had thought her fascination with Professor Sinetra was because of her love of the subject, not the other way around. On the second thought, she does look at the beautiful witch some sort of breathlessness. She also seem to replicate guys rather than girls in her interests too. Didn’t he overhear that hupplepuff Abbot joking that she was a guy and not a girl. It made a lot of sense. Of course she would ignore him if she liked girls. He looked over at Lubna, who was now trying to skip rocks in the lakes water. She was not any extraordinary after all.  
But then, what about her talents, was Tom wrong about them too? Could it be that she had simply used a spell discovered by one of her friends. It did seem too silly to use that kind of spell just to play video games. But her occasional smirks at her friend’s foolishness, her unusual daily routine, her habit of not having any close friends, were all just normal? No, that look she had when she pushed him away, it was unusually strong, as though she was putting her foot down. They could not all be lies. But he had to be sure. And he had a plan, “ Mantibar! Doesn’t your girlfriend Black share dorm with Amberglam?”  
“yes, Riddle”  
“ I require a service of her”  
“of course, riddle”  
The results came out the next day. To no one’s surprise, Tom was again top of his class. He looked at the top 10 list, Lubna was not there. He returned is dorm, Mantibar was there waiting, “the thing you asked for” he handed him a piece of parchment. it was Lubna’s result. Tom has had Black “borrow” it from Lubna’s trunk. “Have you looked at it?” tom asked Mantibar. “No” he replied. Tom was satisfied, of course he knew better than to meddle with his orders.   
Tom took it and looked at the grades. She had received very high grades, except for in potions, which she failed. It explained why she was not in the top 10 list, because if you combined her marks, Riddle discovered with a jolt, even with failing one subject she was only 70 points behind him. She was on same footing with riddle in every subject; she even topped him (though by very narrow margin) in Astrology and transfiguration. This girl, this girl was really something else. “Take it back and return to where it came from” he ordered Mantibar. “Make sure she doesn’t realize it was gone.” Tom felt excitement rising in his head. He needed to plan, next term, she was going down.


	4. Dark side of the Moon

It was the start of their 5th year at Hogwarts. Coming back to Hogwarts was always a blessing to Tom, it was like coming home from warzone. He hated the orphanage; the 1st thing he was going to do when he turned 17 is to burn down the whole place with its inhabitants in it. But this year even summer vacation was more bearable than usual, he got the letter that he had been made prefect. Given his records it was no surprise to him, he was still very pleased to have that news. The feeling of having more power was extremely satisfying. He had also spent a lot time planning how to take Lubna down, the plan was perfect. He was going to use Lubna’s unusual routine to topple her.  
The plan was a simple one. Tom, along with Rosier and Nott will do the operation. They would attack Lubna while she was going to get her breakfast in the morning. The corridors will be empty, so there will no fear of detection. Rosier and Nott will do the frontal assault, Tom will join them only when Lubna was completely apprehended and continue the investigation process alone. Tom did not want Rosier or Nott to know what he was interrogating. Of course he could have done the whole thing alone by himself, but this was part of Rosier and Notts training for future assignments as well. Tom needed to know how useful they will be in real life, when he would need them to capture people.   
They positioned themselves in the corridor leading to the library. The lights in the corridors were turned out. It was early morning; that time of morning twilight; when the sun was rising but still not quite there. Hogwarts corridors are dark most times, but the lack of light from both sun and the lights, made them exceptionally dark. Riddle thought it was perfect. Rosier and Nott were on the other side of the corridor hiding; Tom a little bit further away; hiding in a corner so that he can see everything clearly.  
Within 15 minutes they could see Lubna coming, she had food one hand, and she was carrying a large bag on her side which Tom assumed was filled with books. As soon as Lubna drew closer, Rosier and Nott came out from the both side and encircled Lubna. Tom eagerly waited to watch the drama that was about to unfold.  
“ Hello Amberglam” said Rosier, who was standing in front of Lubna.  
Lubna stopped abruptly as Rosier stood in front of her. She stared at Rosier and than at Nott who was standing behind her. It was clear that she realised something was amiss.   
“ Hi Rosier” she said. Her voice was little shaky from surprise, face stiff.   
“what are you doing in the corridors in this early alone Amberglam? Don’t you know that it might get dangerous? Rosier continued.  
“ what do you want?” Lubna asked.  
Nott laughed from behind, it was such a cold laugh that made Lubna shiver. Riddle was glad to see that her happy expression was vanished it was replaced by one of alert with slight fear. His underlings were doing a good job.  
“ nothing just wanted to see what’s in your bag” said Rosier.  
“ those are just books” she said.“ really what books? We wanna see” Rosier said. “ Accio”   
Books stated to leave lubna’s bag and fly to   
“crusio” the cursed hit Rosier and immediately he was lifted from the ground. He screamed but it came to a halt mid scream, something must have happened to his vocal cord. Tom could see that his mouth was open but no sound came out of it. Nott was thundered as well. He finally got back his senses and started to raise his wand, but Lubna was faster. In one swing she moved from rosier to Nott and screamed “ Imperio”.Rosier fell on the ground with a lound thud as Lubna’s wand stopped pointing at him. Nott stopped moving, and then Lubna made Nott run towards the wall. Nott collided with the wall with loud thud and fell on the floor; apparently losing consciousness from the collision. From this distance Tom could see that Rosier has gone white from pain, he finally closed his eyes; apparently he went unconscious from the pain. Nott could not move a muscle. This plan has gone horribly wrong. Lubna had taken down both of Tom’s underlings within minutes.  
Words are not enough to say what Tom was feeling at that moment. If one had to describe it, it would be a mixture of rage, surprise and wonder. Lubna Amberglam, the goofy idiot, social butterfly and apple of Dumbledore’s eyes was using dark magic. Magic that was not allowed in Hogwarts. There are so many questions that were floating in his mind. But he had to act first.   
Tom ran into the scence like he had just found out what happened.   
“Amberglam!! What did you do?” he said, wand ready in case she decided to strike. Lubna did not reply, she was still fumig with anger.   
Tom considered his options, as much as he would like to question her right away, getting rid of his minions bodies were more important.   
“stay right here” he said to Lubna. He did a little bit of complex magic and floated both Rosier and Nott. He carried them to hospital wing; explaining to the nurse how they had been brawling with each other and got knocked out. He was little bit unsure if the nurse could identify wound from dark magic, but luckily the Hogwarts Nurse never asked too many questions. His status as headboy also helped.   
He went back to the dark corridor as soon as his feet would take his. He doubted that lubna was still there , but he had to check. Luckily Lubna was still there, waiting for him. But it was not a good place to have the conversation he would like to have with her.  
“follow me” he ordered. And Lubna followed him. He went to the seventh floor, where room of requirement was. Only he knew of the existence of the room, so their conversation would be safe there. Oddly though, Lubna did not ask him where they were going.  
When they had entered the room of requirement, Tom said in a tone that sounded like he was genuinely concerned, “ you used dark magic on Nott and Rosier, dark magic!”\  
“ they deserved it!! They hurt my books” came an angry relpy.  
It was surprising to say the least. Not only was she not scared that he did something wrong, she was also thought they deserved it. Such cruelty for such small offense, Tom thought.  
“ do you know the consequesnces?”  
“ oh please what are they gonna do? Expel me?? I don’t even want to be here in the first place”  
Tom was shocked, more than he was when Lubna was using dark magic, who , I mean who didn’t want to be in Hogwarts?  
“ you don’t wanna be here?”  
“ of course not, why do have to attend this school just because I can do magic, why is this rule? I didn’t chose to be here , my magic chose me”  
“ so you don’t care if the teachers found out ?”  
“No”  
Tom’s head was swimming, he had planned to blackmailing Lubna, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. However, he had one last plan.  
“what about Dumbledore?”  
For the first time, he saw Lubna’s expression soften. She looked like she was worried.  
“ I am sure how he would be disappointed to know that his favorite pupil has been using dark magic”  
She looked down, it was clear that she cared what Dumbledore thought.   
“ don’t want to disappoint him, do we ?’ he said, with a smirk.  
There was silence.  
“ where did you learn those spells?” Tom asked.   
“ oh I am sure, you know how I learned them Riddle. Please don’t keep up that good boy mask, it doesn’t suit you well”  
Tom smiled, that smile that made him look more manacing than handsome. A smile that was odd in his handsome featured, but it was a genuine smile as well.  
“so you knew?”  
Lubna smirked, “of course I did, I am observant you know.”  
This is going to be interesting.  
“tell me Lubna, why are you into dark magic?  
“ because they are magic, that’s all. I don’t really understand why they are banned; magic is magic , there is no dark and light”  
Tom was surprised to hear her reasoning. “ even if magic costs a human soul?  
“even when its costs a human soul, great magic requires great sacrifices; that’s it. Magic is magic, the only thing that can be dark is human intentions, anything can be evil with the wrong intentions” , she answered.   
“ I propose a deal” Tom said.  
“what deal?’  
“ you will work for me, teach me all the Hogwarts secrets you know”  
“ what’s in it for me?”  
“ I won’t tell Dumbledore what you did”  
“….”  
“fine” she finally replied. “but I have my own points”  
“what?”  
“ first, it can’t be a one way deal, you will have to teach me as well.”  
Tom nodded, he taught his minions, she will be no different.  
“ but most importantly..,” she continued.  
“ I will work with you, not for you, you understand?   
Tom looked at her, her eyes were glamming, as if to show that she meant her words. It was at that moment that Tom realised why she was so fearless around him. Her fearlessness didn’t come from foolishness; but from utter and complete belief in her own abilities. Not for a moment has this girl ever believed that he had any powers that she did not, she saw herself as equal to Tom.


	5. The sunshine and the rain

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tom Riddle gets to experience what ever teenager does -_+

Over the next few weeks, Lubna taught Tom that there were loophole points at the castle, points where the protective spells were at its weakest. Lubna tought Tom the spell she has made herself to create a invisible buddle, it those buddles no magic would be effective. This was the points where electric devices could be used. On the time of his prefect guard duty, Tom found all the loophole points of the Hogwarts castle. Tom had been thinking that he alone knew about all the secrets of the castle, was surprised that she knew about the room of requirement too. Tom’s initial plan was to use memory charm to make Lubna forget about her help with tom, but now he was thinking that she will be a good adition to his group of “friends” .  
Soon it became quite evident that both of them had exceptional knowledge about the magic, but It was also clear that Lubna will never be attracted to Tom’s quest for power, her interest with black arts merely an intellectual one. She wanted to learn black magic just because she was curious, wanted to break rules just to prove that she is clever. She had a nack of learning things quickly and her thirst for knowledge made her an excellent asset. Tom thought of Lubna as a independent research wing of his group, which worked directly under him. But Tom also figured out Lubna will never have the same fear of him that the rest of his group had, so he will ever be able to control her like the rest. This made Lubna extremely frustrating to Tom, but at the same time it was somewhat refreshing. Lubna treated Tom as a partner, together at the room of requirement they practiced magic that weren’t taught in class; discussed on the next big mystery of Hogwarts and darkest of art. Their current project was making a map of Hogwarts that will show all the different secret passageways, and the placement of every entity (human, animal and ghosts) in real time. Once completed it will be a great tool for Tom.  
But dealing with Lubna had its downside too. She did not change her happy-go-lucky demeanor and talked with him in an extremely friendly manner, much to his annoyance. And there were other associated problems too. One afternoon he was looking for Lubna and found her in a deserted dark cooridor at the third floor. She was sitting on the window, reading textbook. It was an odd place to be reading a book and she was wearing an extremely odd expression, one torn between disgust and pleasure. Tom had a feeling she was not reading textbook at all.  
“what are you reading ?”  
She jumped at the sound of his voice “n..n…nothing” and tried to hide the book out of side. But Tom was too quick “ Accio” he pointed his wand at the book and it shored into his hand. but as soon as he looked into the book, Riddle for the 1st time in his life felt heat rising into his cheek. The book contained picture of man and woman. Naked. In intimate positions.  
For a moment, Tom went completely blank as to how to react. Then he angrily shouted “what is this?” his cheeks was still burning. But Lubna had spotted the pink tinge his cheek and was no longer being shy about the book as she was earlier. She smiled her most cheeky mile and said, “ my my riddle , never seen porn before?”  
Tom could not believe that she was being so casual about this.  
“ you are disgusting” he said angrily.  
Lubna sulked, “ what the matter Riddle? its only normal, I am a healthy teenager after all.”  
Tom glared at her. She got to be the most shameless person he have ever encountered. He put the magazine into his bag and said, “forget about this stupid stuff, concentrate on the map, I need it finished before Halloween” and the started to leave. He did not want to continue this conversation any further.  
“okey, but don’t go looking at the magazine Tom, or it will turn you into stone !!” shouted Lubna to his retreating back and started laughing like she has made the joke of the year.  
Tom did not look back, but at night when the dormitory was empty, he found intrigued to look at the magazine he had confiscated, part of it was because of Lubna had said about turning into stone, was there really any magic in it? He opened the magazine, it looked quite ordinary. But he liked looking at those naked bodies, it was interesting. Soon he started to feel felt a part of his body getting hard, and realized what Lubna had meant by “turning into stone” and why it was so funny for her. That girl!!  
But was it really normal for teenager to look at  
this kind of magazine. Now that Tom had gone through Lubna’s magazine, he wanted more. So he went through his roommate stuff and was surprised to see just how many porn magazine they had. What more is that some of them were magic , and  
......................................... The rain continued to pour down so heavily that it was impossible to conduct an outdoor class, the result- The care for magical creatures’ class was canceled. Riddle and Nott were at the entrance hall heading stairs down to dungeon; Riddle was thinking about how to make use of the free time when a blur shot past them. They looked back to see Lubna running past the main entrance into the grounds. She was not wearing her rob, only school uniform and as he ran, she spread her arms wide like a bird. She was planning on showering in the rain.  
“That fool!!” .. Riddle thought. She would clearly catch a fever if she drenched herself in the rain. Not to mention she will definitely get in trouble if any teachers cought her. He could not afford to have her sick, they were on verge of completing the Map. He could also not afford to have her get in trouble with the teachers, last thing he needed was her in detention. He will have to get that dumb girl himself.  
Tom took off his own rob. He handed the rob and the Bag to Rosier, “hold this for me” . he held his wand upward and said “Portego” a small shield formed over his head which worked as an umbrella. Pleased, Tom head out to the grounds to search for Lubna.  
Tom found Lubna on the edge of the lake, he was amused to see her dancing on the rain with some invisible partner. She had not seen him and as he got closer he could see that she looked over the moon happy, as if dancing with her prince charming. Tom made a mental note of reading a book of healing to see if her symptoms resembled those of permanent brain damage. He was about to shout her name when without warning she jumped into the lake. Tom saw her swimming further away from the shore and then dive inside the water. Tom was once again astonished by her lack of sense. He decided to wait on the shore for her to come back on the surface. But he stood and stood, after nearly 3 minutes, Lubna has still not reappeared. Tom sensed something was amiss. Lubna was not carrying a wand and did not cast any spell before she went on inside the water. There was no way on she will be able to hold her breath for that long, she must be in danger. Without further ado, Tom took of him shoes and jumped into the water. He used his wand to undo the shield charm and dived in. after a minute or so of swimming he finally found Lubna. She was putting an battle with a gildylow which has put its strong grip on her foot and was dragging her down. Even from the distance Tom could see that she was out of her breath, he will have to do something about her before dealing with the gildylow. Tom quickly swam closer to the Lubna. He pulled her face close to his and put some air in her mouth. Then he aimed at the gildylows grip and shouted “relasio!” the gildylow gave a loud scretch and let go. Tom swam quickly with Lubna in his arms and as soon as they reached the shore, they both collapsed into the ground.  
It was after several minutes that Tom finally caught his breath and came back to reality. he was laying on the ground, and Lubna was laying beside him. They were still in the same posture as they had been while Tom was saving her, apparently none of them had the energy to move. But now that reality was setting in, Tom realized that their bodies were extremely close. Lubna was still breathing heavily and He could feel Lubna’s chest raising and falling against his skin. Heat started to rise in his cheeks as his brain supplied the images from the porn magazines. With one jolt he removed lubna from his chest and stood up.  
“ don’t do anything this stupid again” he told Lubna.  
“ sorry,” she said as she sat up.  
But Tom did not hear her, by that time , he was already half way towards the castle, hoping Lubna didn’t see his blush.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Is Tom too much out of character?  
> he doesn't love, but nothing ever said he doesn't lust,.. maybe he does :P


	6. Melancholy

The next morning, Tom looked for Lubna, but the girl was nowhere to be seen. He was worried that she might have actually gotten sick, which would mean that his plan would be late even more. By afternoon, when he noticed that she had missed at least three of her lessons, He decided that he would ask around and see if he can find her whereabouts

“ Black! Have you seen Amberglum in the dorm?”  
“ She was in the morning classes Riddle, then a owl came and delivered her a muggle mail, and she just bolted. Can you imagine a slytherin getting muggle mail?”   
Blacks face was twisted in disgust.

Riddle said nothing, simply nodded and walked away. He could obviously imagine this particular slytherin getting muggle mail. The fact that she was not in dorms means something must have happened. When he couldn’t find her in the room of requirement, He decided to look for her in her secret spots, because that’s where she must be.

As he walked through the corridors looking for her here and there, his thoughts floated back to the girl in question. He thought about how weird her history actually is. She truly was an unusual slytherin, born of a muggle and a squib. He father was born of a powerful pureblood family. Shameful that they had produced a squib, her father’s family forced him to migrate to Britain, where he fall in love and married her mother. In some sort of twisted fate magic decided to show up after skipping a generation and Lubna was born a witch. Her slytherin status is probably because of her bloodline, but Tom could also see why she would be a slytherin in charecter as well. She had a twisted sense of morality and high ambition. She was not afraid to hurt others if they got in their way. Tom often thought what Dumbledore will do when he got to see the ‘real’ Lubna. But then again, Dumbledore will probably let it go saying she is good of heart. He is always biased towards those he liked, at least that’s what he thought.

When Tom climbed the tallest bell tower of Hogwarts, it was almost sunset time. It was one of those special zones where magic was thin. When he heard a soft music playing from the place, he immediately knew that he had found Lubna.

Lubna was sitting facing the setting sun as a small electric device playing sad sounding piano music. She was sitting on the edge of one of the arches. Her legs hanging from the tower. If he didn’t know her better, Tom would have thought she is thinking about suicide. He approached her and went to stand close to her, shoulder leaning on one of the pillars of the tower so that he was facing her side. 

She was crying.

Tom didn’t know how to react to this. He normally did not feel emotions other than rage or delight. Others never show him their emotions, if that is not fear. So seeing Lubna crying, and not making any effort to hide them even though he was there was unsettling.

The silence and the thick emotions were too much for Tom to bear. 

Lubna finally decided to break it.

“ you know Tom, I never wanted to be wizard, I wanted a simple life, simple school, good grades, a great collage; I wanted to be an astronaut, or study cosmology, go skiing or go to beach on summer vacation and eat out at Mcdonalds. Go watch a movie, travel to Asia by plane like my other cousins did..I never got to do those things , I was too special…”

Tom would be lying if he said he knew where this was going but he continued to listen.

“ ..my father thought I was so special for having magic, I came to Hogwarts to fullfill his dream, and mine are left behind in dustpan..”

“.. I am always the different one, at home for magic, at school for liking non-magic things..I never fit in anywhere..” 

Fresh streaks of tear was flowing from her eyes as she looked at the muggle letter in her hand.

“ .. I really liked him a lot, I was getting tired of feeding lies.. I thought maybe if I am honest with him, it will get easier, maybe he will accept me for me, I will finally find my place…. And now he doesn’t want to be with me because he thinks i am a weirdo who eats children.. “

“It hurts Tom , it hurts so much.. Knowing that someone hates not your outlook or behavior, your entire being.. Someone you like hates what makes you ‘you’ “

Tom’s jaw tightened, the scene before him was oddly familiar. Even though he had never seen this scene in his life before, he had a odd sense of de javu.

He did not think much of her mother, thinking that she was a weak person for leaving him alone and dying. But ever so often, he can’t help but wonder about her. Had she faced similar situation? Did his father leave her in dust immediately after he learned about her magic ? Was she left broken just like the girl sitting in front of him?. 

The girl in front of him.

Tom could feel rage taking over his body, his head was boiling. All he could think about is what how he would like to torture his father, and the guy who rejected Lubna. 

Why did he care about the guy who rejected Lubna? Why did he care at all?

Must be because the guy had insulted all wizards and deserved to die; his mind reasoned.

Lubna was sitting there, quietly looking at the horizon. the rays of the setting sun hitting her silent tear drops. The scene had a beautiful sadness to it. 

Tom did not like it at all. 

She should be smiling and cheerful, sadness did not suit her.

He also needed Lubna to cheer up, a overly emotional Lubna is useless; his mind reasoned again.

“..What we have been given is a gift , and we have a responsibility towards it… without magic, the world would be able to move forward as it has today; muggles who don’t get it are just fools..forget about him” 

.. only silence followed as he continued.. 

“ you are not weird Lubna, you are one of the most powerful witches I know” he said quietly. He had always known how to flatter people, but today his words were sincere. “.. if people do not accept you for who are, then it’s there lose.”

Lubna looked him finally and offered a small smile.

Tear streaks still on her cheeks, but her smile was soft and sincere, she looked beautiful.

And all was back to normal again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> was this chapter too out of charecter? please leave me comments to let me know what you think,   
> I am sorry for not updating sooner, I will try to be regular from now on.

**Author's Note:**

> comments and Kudos are appreciated


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